I did some tests with my USB chargers: how much power do they consume when plugged into a power socket without charging any device (standby)?
The devices I tested are:
- Apple A1357
- Apple A2347
- Anker A2053
- No-brand: Chacon EMP604USB
I connected each one to a powermeter and let it measure the standby power consumption for 24 hours.
This is the result:
| Model | 24 hours (Wh) | 1 hour (Wh) | 1 year (Wh) |
| Apple A1357 | 2,8847 | 0,1202 | 1052,9155 |
| Apple A2347 | 1,2723 | 0,0530 | 464,3895 |
| Anker A2053 | 5,0734 | 0,2114 | 1851,7910 |
| No-brand: Chacon EMP604USB | 5,6473 | 0,2353 | 2061,2645 |
24 hours is the measured data, the “1 hour” and “1 year” columns are calculated based on the 24 hours data.
The no-brand USB charger consumes the most: around 2 kWh per year, which is still less than a switched off Philips Hue lamp.
Using the same cost as for the Philips Hue lamp, that no-brand charger costs me around €1 if I would leave it plugged in for a whole year without letting it charge anything.
Quickpost info
Didier Stevens 
This is great, i’ve always wanted to test this and am always wondering how much power my my devices are using when plugged into my desktop! What are you using to test the power usage?
Comment by Kyle — Sunday 17 July 2022 @ 17:28
For standby power of a Philips Hue lamp (https://blog.didierstevens.com/2022/04/03/power-consumption-of-a-philips-hue-lamp-in-off-state/), I used a cheap AT2630 powermeter.
But for some of the chargers, the consumed power was so low, that that meter didn’t register accurately. So I managed to do the measurements for the chargers with a professional power meter: GPM-8310.
Comment by Didier Stevens — Monday 18 July 2022 @ 6:36
nice
Comment by Anonymous — Wednesday 12 October 2022 @ 9:04